It’s definitely a cannibalism joke. Take a look here. The author of that comic, Zach, does an “after the comic” panel for his comics that adds an extra little joke. So that rather settles that, I’d say.

Hmmm… I wonder why Zach thought it was a great idea to piss-off Christians the week before Holy Week. Seems just a tad sacreligious to say that Jesus was a cannibal, and not even funny-enough to warrant insulting such a large percentage of Americans. Remember the furor about the comics insulting Islam? Why don’t people just leave other people’s religions alone???!!!

I just don’t see the need to mock or attack other people’s beliefs. If it gets them through the night and doesn’t hurt me, I don’t feel I have the right to unprovokedly (?)offend them about it. Live and let live. It’s one thing to laugh about things like certain religions banning dancing, but quite another to insult someone else’s Lord. It just seems there are plenty of topics in this world that are fair game, I personally don’t see the need to take potshots at other people’s religion. That’s just me and the way I was brought up.

And as for cannibalism being “the basis of one of the most sacred Christian rites”… Dude, it’s only symbolic. During communion we don’t actually eat little pieces of dehydrated Jesus. I know some religions think the wafer turns into Jesus’ flesh, but I don’t think anyone really believes they’re actually eating raw flesh.

I’m not sure this is about cannibalism- note the apostle says in the last panel “ALL 900 of us ere fed.” I read the comic to mean that Jesus was only able to produce enough food for 900 people, so the crowd size was revised downward in later tellings. Still, too much effort for a not-too-funny joke.

And just to be clear - I’m not personally mortally offended by this strip, but I just don’t see the need. If you’re going to go there, it’d better be so funny I fall outta my chair.

By the way - I used to have a boss whose last name was Feldman, and his favorite cusswords were “Jesus Christ”. I took to teasingly chiding him with, “Hey, buddy, take the name of your OWN damn Lord in vain!”

I thought it was cannibalism. And even though I’m an evangelical Christian, I thought it was funny. I’d prefer it if people didn’t constantly rag on religion because it DOES get old, but honestly, jokes about religion in the comics don’t bother me. Usually they’re funny, not preachy. And I’d rather have a webcomic talk about Jesus and cannibalism then yet another 15 year old atheist who spams “ALL CHRISTIENZ R INGERANT BIGOTZ WHO JUDG PPLZ U IGNORANT MORANZ!”

Yeah, and the eating bread and drinking wine thing isn’t literal. It’s a reminder that you take each week to remember what Jesus has done for you. It’s easy to get caught up in everyday life and forget, but that reminder is always there. You see the bread and the wine and you remember the body and blood of Jesus. We don’t actually think it’s the same thing.

And for the record, I thought it was funny, thought not his funniest comic. And I think people need to lighten up if they’re offended by this. It’s always ok and funny until it’s your thing that’s being joked about (and I don’t think this even qualifies as “making fun of”, it’s just silly). But then, I’m a 26 year-old atheist who doesn’t spam anything, and has friends of all sorts of religions (including a Christian girlfriend). Can’t we all just get along and not be so thin-skinned?

Thank whoever (founding fathers?) that we CAN spout our opinions, whether weighty, mocking (provoked or not), silly or otherwise. The minute you start denying anyone the right to say this or that about some special group (usually the complainer’s own) well that starts the trip down that proverbial slippery slope. I like my opinions. I like voicing them. Other folk’s opinions…eh, not so much, but I’ll be damned if I would stifle theirs because mine might be next and the world just isn’t ready for that.

What I don’t get is why the guy telling the story looks like an older version of the guy who brought the loaves and fishes. Wouldn’t the one who failed to feed the group by bringing inadequate food be the first to feed them by other means?

Yes we’re all different, and yes, this is a free country. My whole life I’ve been tormented by my Uncle Jack, who feels free to tease/abuse each of us about anything and everything - in front of whoever happens to be around - no matter how sensitive a subject it is for you or how little of his business it is. At each family event, he’s only happy if he’s driven at least one person to tears (and he won’t quit until he does). Sure, it’s a free country and he has every right to do that, but I don’t have to like it. I was brought up to be careful about discussions about a number of things, including religion and politics.

I don’t think I ever said I was personally offended by this strip - and if I did that’s not what I meant to say - but there are just some things I don’t feel the need to make fun of. In general, you stand a good chance of making people-in-general uncomfortable or hurting their feelings if you make fun of any number of subjects (their weight, ugliness, bad teeth, age, race, religion, etc) but you’re perfectly free to take that chance. I’m also free not to like that kind of humor. If I implied that Zach shouldn’t be free to draw this particular strip or anyone else wasn’t free to like it, I certainly didn’t mean to imply that.

Well but here’s the problem with that, Bah Humbug: You literally cannot do anything that won’t offend someone, somewhere. The “Oh, I’d better not do this/make that joke because it might offend [group of people]” slope is a really crappy one to start going down, because then all the sudden you can’t talk/make a joke about anything.

That being said, it sounds like your uncle is just a jerk. There’s a big difference between making a joke on a radio/tv show/website/book that anyone can stop consuming the second they don’t like it and consistently making jokes/discussing things in person that you know makes the people you’re talking to uncomfortable.

I’m very careful about discussing religion or politics in person as well, because rarely does any good come of that. I certainly wouldn’t print this comic out and hang it on my wall at work. But I have no problem consuming it on my own time and enjoying it, and I enjoy reading interesting political commentary/reporting.

I’m not setting out to offend anyone per se - not any more than I would argue I mock suicide by doing a suicide joke. I honestly didn’t even consider that we’re near Easter (I was raised Jewish).

That said, I’m fairly equal opportunity about mocking religions. I’ve made jokes about Christianity, Buddhism, and Judaism. I may make a few more Jesus-related jokes, but that’s only because he’s probably the most known singular religious figure in the west, if not the world.

I haven’t made jokes about Islam, mainly because it’s too topical right now for SMBC and because most people don’t understand it well enough for me to make a meaningful joke about it. Americans (my main audience) tend to have at least a vague sense of Judaism, Christianity, and Buddhism, so I feel more open to make fun of goofy things in their history and texts.

#17 Lola - Thank the internet for that freedom! America may still be free, but the internet is very free (at present) from censorship.

Wow, the author of the comic posted a comment! Haven’t seen that in a while!

I thought the comic was funny, but I didn’t think of it as sacreligious. I also didn’t think of cannibalism, but of the other 100 starving. The link does make a strong argument for that, though. I like the subtlety of the joke, depending on the reader to remember a piece of the previous panel to understand the joke.

I think it’s interesting that Zach didn’t notice this was near Easter. Scott Adams just did an entire week of Dilbert about a character named Jesus (pronounced HAY-SOOS), and mentioned in yesterday’s Dilbert Blog that it never occurred to him that they would be running around Easter time. His response to “Why don’t you mock Mohammed next? Huh? Why not?” is “Well, aside from the blindingly obvious reason that I prefer life over death, I didn’t realize I was making fun of Christianity”

Allow me to defend Zach on the “not knowing it was near Easter” thing: He says he was brought up Jewish, so he’s still probably more aware of Passover than Easter — and this year Easter falls a month earlier than Passover rather than the same week.

I’m Jewish, and until people started mentioning it in the context of this comic, *I* didn’t realize Easter was so close. It kind of sneaks up on me when it comes “a month too early.”

I know someone (Jewish) who for many years thought that it was so nice that many stores put eggs on sale around Passover (since you can’t use yeast, eggs are a common ingredient in Passover dishes). It wasn’t until she was 40 or so that she realized it was for Easter.

I’m late to the game on all the comments here, but no one has said it, so I will. No where in this comic is it stated that it’s Jesus. It’s a guy who looks like the traditional Jesus, in a traditional Jesus situation, but it could be anybody who hung out with disciples that call him lord. Brian perhaps. A loophole for the mocking Christianity argument, this could be a religion that disappeared because it kept losing followers.